BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion and top men's singles seed Shi Yuqi suffered a stunning first-round defeat on the opening day of the 2026 BWF World Championships in New Delhi, India on Monday as he crashed out in a three-game thriller against India's Ayush Shetty.
A late comeback was not enough to stop Shi's early exit as the world No. 1 Chinese shuttler was edged out 21-14, 13-21, 21-19 after the 73-minute battle.
It marks Shi's first career loss to Shetty. The Chinese ace claimed his only singles title of the season at the Asian Championships, where he also beat Shetty in the final.
China's men's singles lineup saw mixed results in the opening round. Li Shifeng stormed to a dominant 21-7, 21-10 win against Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Panarin, while 16th seed Weng Hongyang fell 21-17, 21-14 to Japan's Yushi Tanaka.
On the women's side, South Korea's favorite An Se-young eliminated Bulgaria's Kaloyana Nalbantova 21-14, 21-13. China's Wang Zhiyi, An's biggest rival, defeated Zhang Beiwen of the United States 21-12, 21-13 in just 36 minutes.
Several Chinese doubles pairs showed solid form on the same day. Men's duos Huang Di/Liu Yang and Hu Keyuan/Lin Xiangyi, as well as women's pair Luo Yi/Wang Tingge, all sealed 2-0 wins to reach the round of 32.
The tournament kicked off on Monday and will conclude on Sunday, with five world titles up for grabs.■
